A Grammar of Mavea: An Oceanic Language of Vanuatu

Chapter 6 Noun phrases

Chapter 6 Noun phrases Throughout this monograph, the term ‘noun phrase’ refers to NPs and DPs. Maximally , a noun phrase is composed of the following elements: (Quant) (Plural) N (N-poss) (N) (Adj) (Det) ((lig) Num) (Quant) (Clf (N-Poss)) (Rel) There are no examples in the data where all possible constituents of the NP appear in a single phrase given that some elements are incompatible with others. 6.1 The head of a NP In Chapter 3, the following classes of nouns were established: Proper nouns Personal names Calendar names Vocatives Locatives Place names Locational terms Relational terms Common nouns Free Bound Body parts Kinship terms A noun phrase is made up minimally of a single noun, taken from any of the above classes. In the following example, the head of the NP is a common noun in (463) and a proper noun in (464). (463) ref 06033.034 Mo-on 3SG-look mata snake mo-l-suruv. 3SG-IMPF-sleep ‘He saw (that) the snake was sleeping.’ (464) ref 06033.012 Ro then Voko white mo-ngara 3SG-cry mo-ngara 3SG-cry mo-lo-v̋a. 3SG-IMPF-go ‘Then Voko cried and cried for a while.’ 140 6 Noun phrases A demonstrative pronoun or a personal pronoun can also be the head of a noun phrase and constitute a NP on its own, as exemplified in (465) below. (465) ref 06030.030 Male this.one mo-an 3SG-eat nna 3SG mo-evu. 3SG-finish ‘This one already ate it.’ Other possible heads of the NP include quantifiers, as in (466). (466) ref 07067.041 Ale then maike some ra-anan 3PL-eat na LOC vataolo. different ‘Then, some ate at a different (place).’ It is debatable whether numerals can head a noun phrase. In the following example , the NP object is solely composed of a numeral. I believe that the head noun is phonetically null. Its referent is retrievable from the context. (467) ref 07082.088 Ra-sopo-rru 3PL-NEG-insist v̋alu-n to-CONS tamlo man aite one m̋atan for i-la 3SG.IR-take i LIG rua two i LIG tol three i LIG v̋ati four pemele. like.this ‘They don’t force a man to take two, three, four, like this.’ 6.2 Functions of a NP A NP can be the argument of a verb (subject or object), as shown in (464) and (465) above, the object of a preposition, in (468) below, or can act as a predicate, as exemplified in (469). In all cases, the NPs do not have any special case marking. (468) ref 07082.176 Ra-vol 3PL-buy v̋av̋ina female tuan with nna. 3SG ‘They buy the woman with it.’ (469) ref 07066.005 Ese=na name=3SG.POSS Molres. Molres ‘His name (is) Molres.’ There appear to be, however, some restrictions regarding the type of head a NP can have and the function of that NP head in the grammar. Whereas a common noun or a demonstrative used as a head can serve any of the functions listed above, other noun classes (when they are used as single head of a NP) do not serve all functions, as shown in Table 6.1. It is unclear at this stage whether these restrictions are due to inherent properties of the noun classes or due to gaps in the data. 141 6 Noun phrases Table 6.1 Noun classes and their possible functions Proper Common Pron. Dem. Quant. Num. Noun Noun Subject √ √ √ √ √ √ Object √ √ √ √ √ √ Object of Prep √ √ √ √ x x Subject of Vbless Clause √ √ √ x √ √ Predicate √ √ x √ x √ 6.3 Order of the constituents in the NP As stated in the introduction, a noun phrase can be composed of the following elements: (Quant) (Plural) N (N-Poss) (N) (Adj) (Det) ((lig) Num) (Quant) (Clf (N-Poss)) (Rel) There can be up to five constituents, including the head in a complex NP. This section presents examples of complex NPs. 6.3.1 NP with two constituents A noun phrase made up of two constituents can be composed of a common noun serving as head of the NP, and another element that functions as a modifier. The modifier occurs to the right of the head N. There are two exceptions: the plural marker re and the quantifier te occur to the left of the NP. Some examples...